


Late bloomer

by deutschistklasse



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Attempted Teenage Rebellion, Dadko, Family, Family Dynamics, Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Nation Royal Family, Gen, Going In Prison Is A Family Tradition, Not Canon Compliant, Teenage Rebellion, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26413726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deutschistklasse/pseuds/deutschistklasse
Summary: Izumi unknowingly continues a family tradition. She is more upset by her parent's calmness and acceptance than she thought. But maybe she could rebel later, just after story time.
Relationships: Izumi & Mai (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Mai & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 283





	Late bloomer

**Author's Note:**

> I found this on koizillaa's tumblr, and was inspired by it: "it must have been so hard for Izumi to shock her parents in her rebellious teen phase because they both committed treason and went to prison at 16" 
> 
> In this fic Izumi is Mai and Zuko's daughter, but the pairing is not important, the family dynamic is.

Izumi wasn’t fuming or seething or pouting, thank you very much. She was a princess, almost an adult, she was more dignified than that. She was just expressing her displeasure with the situation quietly and politely. She lifted her nose, frowned and crossed her arms for added effect.

Her Dad just patted her hair consolingly with a fond smile, but he didn’t speak, did not even ask why she was there. Her Mom continued to caress her arm lovingly, but she too was silent.

Izumi knew, the carriage ride from the city prison to the Caldera would be unbearable, but she didn’t think her parents’ calmness would be the reason for it. She thought, they would yell, cry or be icy cold with her, that they would be disappointed. She waited for it. She counted on it. She even prepared a heated answer for them. But no.

She gazed out of the window, doing everything in her power to avoid looking at her too serene parents. What was wrong with them? Why weren’t they more upset about her being in prison? Her Dad was the Fire Lord! Wasn’t this shaming him and his ancestors? Wasn’t this unacceptable for a princess? Her Dad always spoke about honor. Was this for him honorable? She was lost.

Her anger with them grew. Did they care at all?

When her friends spoke about disappointing their parents, about clashing with them horribly with yelling and ugly crying and forgiveness at the end, they never spoke about how this weird acceptance could be an option. Izumi guessed, her parents couldn’t be normal, not even in this.

She wanted to see them upset, sad, angry, ashamed, and to know that she was the cause of it. She loved her parents, but she wanted to shock them at least once. Just once. Was this too much to ask?

After a while she couldn’t stand her parents’ silence anymore. Her words were more like a hiss, but she was angry. She wanted them to take her seriously.

„What is wrong with you?! Why aren’t you scolding me?”

„Why would we scold you?”

There was genuine bafflement in her Dad’s voice. Izumi wanted to rip something to shreds.

„I was in prison. For two hours. Isn’t this enough reason for you? Aren’t you mad or ashamed of me? You didn’t even ask what I did to land in prison!”

„We know why you were in there, the warden told us. And I’m sure those boys deserved to be beaten. You wouldn’t punch them without reason, am I right?”

Her Dad was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. Those boy were harassing an old woman, of course she intervened. It wasn’t her fault they didn’t recognize her as the Crown Princess and they didn’t understand her warning. But Auntie Suki taught her well. The police officers who wanted to rescue the boys felt her fury too.

Her Dad wasn’t done yet.

„Of course, we hoped you wouldn’t continue the family tradition, but you are our kid, I guess you learned a thing or two from us. So. We aren’t surprised and we aren’t mad at you. And we never could be ashamed of you. Never. We love you so much.”

Izumi was desperate. She tried to rebel, not that landing in prison was deliberate, but she thought it would do the trick. But neither Dad, nor Mom behaved like her friends said they would. In an ordinary family the parents would at least scold their children if they landed in prison, right? But her parents weren’t even upset by it. It was infuriating and reassuring at the same time. Safe. She loved them so much.

But. Did she hear it right? Family tradition?

She looked at her Mom for explanation, who just shrugged with a calm smile directed first at her Dad, then at her.

„You were just a late bloomer.”

Late bloomer? _Late bloomer?!_ She was seventeen! Wasn’t seventeen too young for being in prison? Her Dad must have seen her confusion, because he began to explain it in typical Dad fashion.

„I think Uncle was the real late bloomer until he just escaped all alone, without my help. And my father too was much older than you when he went to prison. But Aang and Toph were what? Twelve? I think they were twelve. Katara was fourteen. They were twice in prison, you know? But they were there just for a few hours, nothing serious. Wait, maybe Katara was thrice in it. Does the Crystal Catacombs count as a prison?”

Her Mom nodded along and Izumi listened to his Dad with fascinated horror. Why was she hearing about this just now? Was it normal for a Fire Lord to have friends and family full of convicts and ex-prisoners and escapees? Her Dad continued without noticing her inner turmoil.

„–Sokka too, and he was fifteen. It was his second time when we broke into the Boiling Rock, and after a few days your Mom helped us and Suki and Hakoda break out. Then she was trapped here with Ty Lee for weeks as prisoners. We were like what, sixteen? Azula was in prison too for a night in Ba Sing Se. She was fourteen too. I think that’s everyone? Have I left somebody out?”

„I don’t think so. But we can ask them when we arrive back home.”

So. No wonder her parents weren’t fazed by her. They did everything much sooner and on a larger scale. She needed to find something unique to her, something truly shocking. But for now she did give up. Satisfying her curiosity was more pressing.

„Why were you breaking into a prison, Dad? You never told me this story.”

„Oh. Uh. I forgot? We had so many adventures with our friends, that I really just did forget it, I guess. It’s a funny story, it happened when Sokka and me weren’t quite friends yet. We were reluctant allies, maybe? You know, how I chased them all around the world, and–”

She nestled to her Mom’s side. She could rebel later.


End file.
